Conventional tables, whether for indoor or outdoor use, can suffer from many inherent drawbacks.
For example, the position of one or several legs of the table can prevent or restrict the number and positioning of chairs around the table. The main complaint being that persons sitting at the table run the risk of either not being able to sit close enough to the table, or if they do, their legs run the risk of "banging" against the leg(s) of the table which, at best, is a nuisance and at worst is extremely annoying.
Attempts to overcome these problems in the area of "outdoor" tables have usually involved the adoption of a design of table which has two sets of usually parallel planked "bench" type seats fitted to the legs of the table in a substantially parallel relationship to the longest sides of the table. These types of "bench" tables are seen throughout "pub" gardens in the United Kingdom and Europe. Similarly, this type of design of table is extremely popular in the kitchen (as a breakfast table) and in indoor cafeterias as they are economical in terms of space and seating capacity.
Nevertheless, these tables also suffer from the drawback of although, for example, providing adequate seating for three people on each side, can only truly accommodate two people on each side in open "comfort" by providing them with sufficient "elbow room" to eat their meal.
This simply replaces one problem with another. Furthermore, this parallel seating arrangement makes it difficult for social conversation as people often have to talk "across" other people which is not socially accepted. In addition, the use of such tables outside in, for example, "beer gardens" on ground that is usually uneven, often means that the table itself, either has to be supported under one leg with beer mats to "even out" the ground, or the table has to be placed in an unfavourable location where the ground is "more even".
Finally, the construction of such tables is usually carried out in such a way that they are not readily dismountable. As storage space is usually at as premium, such non-readily dismountable tables are usually left in the open all year around at the mercy of the elements. This tends to reduce their life considerably.
It is an object of the present invention to alleviate the problems specified above.